Discovery Student Volunteering Swansea

Who We Are

We are a student led charity (no. 256146) based in Fulton House at the heart of Swansea University's Singleton campus. We are an enthusiastic and dedicated bunch, spending our time on 27 different projects in the Swansea area.

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We have 27 different volunteering project opportunities

Situated in Swansea we carry out all of our volunteering operations in the local area. We are proud to be based at Swansea University's Singleton campus and have a great view of the beach! We are unique because we are a charity run completely by students. However, we do have 4 great full time staff that help to keep us on track. Way back in 1966 when the miniskirt was all the rage and the first US spacecraft orbited the moon, a group of Swansea University students set out to change the world as Swansea Volunteer Service was formed to make a real difference in the community. Over the years the organisation has changed its name to Student Community Action and now Discovery Student Volunteering Swansea

Founded in 1966 we have been a long running charity in the Swansea area. For five decades of helping the elderly, taking children away on trips, gardening, decorating and much, much more the organisation is proud to celebrate its 50th birthday.As our project list has grown we have decided to split our activities into several sections: Involve, projects volunteering with the elderly and vulnerable adults; Interact, hand on projects; Inspire, projects volunteering with young people; International, a project twining work in Swansea and Siavonga; The Supported Volunteering Scheme, a volunteering project working alongside adults with learning disabilities.

Discovery has achieved several volunteering accolades, including the Queen's Award for Volunteering Service, the highest achievable award for any charity. We also hold the Investing in Volunteers standard.

Discovery aims to:
Enrich the lives of people in Swansea in order to fulfil their potential as empowered individuals and as members of groups and communities.
Offer new experiences and opportunities through a broad range of student led activities in the community leading to increased mutual understanding and equality.
Actively support students to be aware of their personal development and the impact on themselves and the lives of others through their involvement in community based activities.

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Discovery Team

Eleanor Norton

Managing Director

Eleanor is an organised and energetic person. She keeps us on track and volunteering effectively.

Vixie Barker-Williams

Volunteer Manager

Vixie puts up with all the questions, but has all the answers. She makes sure all the projects run smoothly and safely.

Kirsty Rowles

Supported Volunteer Manager

Kirsty runs our Supported Volunteering Scheme and our Staff Volunteering Scheme. Pop in or make an appointment to see her to discuss how volunteering can be accessible for you!

Sian Rabi Laleh

Volunteer Recruitment and Office Support Worker

Helping everyone get started on their volunteering journey and the face of the office at our front desk.

Ben Sangraksa

Finance Officer

Ben is a finance student who is doing a year in industry with us. He controls our money and keeps us on the straight and narrow!

Declan Heather

Student President

Declan is a Politics and Social Policies student. He is a calm and sensible character providing a great lead to the organisation.

Bethany Redhead

Secretary

Beth is a English Language student here at the uni. She is also our secretary, keeping diligent records of meetings and actions.

Ludovica Tromontin

Student Trustee

Ludo is a International Relations Student here at Swansea. She is a great team member and

Memphis Bayley

Student Trustee

Memphis is a English Literature student. She is calm and collected and inputs greatly into the charity running.

Peter DRozario

Student Trustee

Peter is Social Policy student at the uni. He is diligent character and involved with many groups. Bring great knowledge and connections to the group.

Liam Kelleher

Student Vice President

Liam is a PhD student at the uni. Flexible with his time he is often found in the office.

Phil Brophy

Non-student President

Andrea Mateo

Non-student Vice President

Mike Buckle

Non-student Treasurer

Mike is a lecturer in finance at the university. He has years of experience managing finance and is a key player on our finance team.

Sarah Spencer-Chapman

Non-student Trustee

Sarah is a lecturer and practitioner in osteopathy. Sarah has spent a wealth of time in voluntary organisations and provides us with level headed guidance.

Contact Us

Recent Blogs

Volunteers needed to teach digital skills- become a Discovery digital champion Imagine a world where you didn’t have the confidence or the skills to go online? For many people in Swansea this is still a reality and has a huge impact on their lives as if you are online:- You can save on average £744 Read more about New project: Digital Champions[…]

So, it may have been quite on the blogs front since the start of the academic year, but here in Discovery it is all go! We have had so much going on that there hasn’t been time to blog. But, belated as it may be, here is an update of all that has been happening. Read more about Blogs are back![…]

Last Wednesday volunteers from across all our projects gathered to celebrate a fantastic year of voluntary work by Discovery. It was an opportunity to say thank you to everyone that has helped in so many different ways to make such a success of everything we do and help improve the lives of people across Swansea. Read more about The Discovery Awards[…]

So, it has been quite a while since the last blog post. While things haven’t been happening on the website there has certainly been plenty going on in the real world. There has been such a lot since the last post that there is no why to fit it all in, so we will just Read more about Long time no post[…]

So the COP project is a partner lead project, run through discovery, which sees student volunteers working locally with South Wales Police and Swansea Metropolitan students. The majority of work we do is giving crime prevention advice to the local community, working with the police and Police community support officers on operations such as OPHAND, Read more about COP Project: Horses, Dogs and Divers[…]

Discovery runs so many fantastic projects and none of them would be possible without our wonderful and dedicated volunteers. However, there is something else Discovery also needs to function as a charity… money. As well as getting money by applying for grants from various charitable bodies such as Children in Need; we are also very Read more about How we raise funds (and other things).[…]

Our new project Discovery Dragons is aiming to encourage engagement in sport by young people across Swansea. Discovery volunteers will be working with other organisations to provide a wide variety of sporting opportunities. We have already had a great deal of interest from many people wanting to volunteer on the project. To give everyone a Read more about Sports, litter, gardening, painting… so many Discovery Projects.[…]

The RASCELS project works with young people from asylum seeker and refuge backgrounds, providing them with various fun activities and opportunities. This Saturday I had a great time volunteering on the project. We all met at the Waterfront Museum from where we headed off on a lantern parade that had been organised as part of Read more about A Karaoke Party[…]

In a time where there is so much food waste being thrown away and yet people still go hungry Discovery is doing its bit through the Food Swansea Project. Waste Free Wednesdays have been mentioned before in the blog, every Wednesday from 4pm to 6 pm Campus Catering serve up a delicious variety of food Read more about Food glorious food[…]

After the success of the Week of Work voluntary taster sessions that ran back in January, Discovery is pleased to be running more of these as part of Student Volunteering Week (SVW). SVW is an annual national event that this year is running from 20th to 26th of February. Now in its 16th year SVW Read more about Student Volunteering Week[…]